It is quite an experience to witness the daily routine of dedication to God and souls of a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP): Beatus vir qui timet Dominum! It often seems that these priests are fighting a hopeless cause in a Church still so deep in a crisis apparently with no end in sight - but every penitent absolved, every Communion handed with reverence is a victory that brings the real Victory, the ultimate one over death and sin, across the ages to our own time. Support them; pray for them; tell them, at least occasionally, how much you appreciate their work for Christ and for your soul. They deserve our most sincere love and respect.
52 comments:
Let me add a word of praise! In getting ready for our first TLM (Requiem) in the Mobile, Ala., Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, I spent a half or more on the phone with an FSSP, who patiently and generously explained to me the finer points of the rubrics and how the music should flow in a High Mass (Missa Cantata). He couldn't have been nicer or more encouraging. A wonderful priest.
Here's a link to an big article and photos about the upcoming Requiem: http://blog.al.com/entertainment-press-register/2011/07/requiem_for_the_departed_music.html
The FSSP is truly a God send!
I wish they would come to this state.
All we have available is the SSPX [Thank God for them too]
Dan
Amen! We love our FSSP priests. If I make it to heaven, it will be in large part due to the effort of these priests who care so deeply for the salvation of souls.
Prayers and fasting for our priests.
I am blest to be a member of a growing FSSP parish in Omaha, Nebraska. We have two of the most saintly priests and are very grateful to our German Shepherd, Pope Benedict, his predecessor, and our Archbishop. God bless the FSSP
I agree 100% with this post.
Thank you very much PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF SAINT PETER.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
WE NEED YOU AND KEEP ALWAYS FAITHFUL TO OUR LORD, TO OUR LADY AND TO HOLY MOTHER CHURCH.
When are they going to get the own BISHOP???
What they all said!
There are seriously, no words adequate for the awesomeness of the FSSP.
What an incredible gift.
Thanks be to God for the FSSP! Just returned from a 4-day retreat with an excellent FSSP priest. Very solid teaching with enough depth to make one really think. And of course the blessing of Mass in the EF. Pray for them to come to Los Angeles!
I may be required to soon move from Sacramento... one of the biggest regrets I will have is leaving St. Stephen's and the FSSP.
I didn't think there were parishes like this in the Western Church until I discovered St. Stephen's and the fine priests who guide it.
In my life I as well want to thank both the FSSP and the Legionaries of Christ despite their controversy. Both groups have led me to understand the Church and fostered a love of souls. One helped me convert from atheism, the other taught me the importance of the liturgy, the expression of our Catholic faith. May God grant many labourers for the harvest. Mary Mother of Vocations, Pray for us!
Welcome back NC. Seems that your idea of a vacation is to go to the FSSP. Please tell us more. Congratulations.
I attended twice Sancta Trinita die Pellegrini in Rome and Once the FSSP apostolate in Seattle. Hopefully they will come next to Los Angeles. FSSP already has a base in San Diego, but we drive 75 miles one way to mass in Ventura (1:30 pm every Sunday) for the privilege of the Traditional Mass. Our new Archbishop Gomez at least answers letters, but no concrete actions. Best thing would be a FSSP personal parish in West and another in East Los Angeles. With 5,000,000 baptized Catholics that would not be too much to ask.
My dream would be to have every-Sunday traditional mass
restored in each of the 21 California Missions. So far we have three: San Juan Bautista, San Buenaventura and San Juan Capistrano. These are Diocesan. The missions have an historical duty since they were restored to the Church by Abraham Lincoln after being secularized and abandoned by
the Mexican government for decades. The Church should allow the one mass for the very purpose these wonderful buildings were built for by the Indians.
In England we appear to have acquired a bishop of Traditional leaning [or at least one fair play and level playing fields - an island within Sees of easy-life Ordinary confreres.
Yes let me join my voice to the chorus here!
I do not know the FSSP so well as the Institute of Christ the King.
But I was unforgettably moved and instructed by their example while visiting Perpignan in France.
Seeing so much devastation in the modern Church, what gratitude we owe to you priests of the FSSP and ICR, IBP faithful to Rome and yet daring to blaze a different route.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
(Note: This should not be read as saying that I am ungrateful for the incredible courage and pioneering effort of the SSPX).
Dear NC. Amen. And thank you for this post. I am a member of The Confraternitas Sancti Petri and, as often as I can, I assist at Mass at Christ The King Chapel in Sarasota, Fl.
Every time I am able to make it to that FSSP Parish, I think of it as going to the real mass.
I can not tell you how much I love the Immemorial Mass and The FSSP Priests and I am proud that I once was a member of a Trad Study group in Portland, Maine that has as its spiritual advisor, the great Fr Calvin Goodwin, a former Jebbie who got permission to quit the Jebbies and join The FSSP.
That little Chapel is beautiful with its Altar, Communion Rail (and Communion Rail cloth) Iconography, Pews, and excellent Schola; and its parishioners are encouraged to be active in the community and at Mass they are recollected, alert, and aptly disposed to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
I have donated books for their Library and spoken with Fr James Fryar and I just have to write they are a great and good Blessing to Sarasota and the entire Universal Church.
They are my salvation and help me to keep relatively sane in the midst of this madness of modernism.
It might be worth mentioning that those who are far from the nearest TLM can view at http://livemass.net/ the Mon-Sat 9 am low Mass at the FSSP chapel in Sarasota, Florida (8:30 am and 10:30 am high Mass on Sunday). It is also recorded and can be downstreamed later.
I recall a statement in a pre-Vatican II 1950s dogmatic manual that one person might derive greater spiritual benefits from participation in a Mass via radio/TV than another person who is physically present at the Mass. This may be even truer today.
Not having a daily TLM near me, I regard livemass.net as a great daily blessing (as, just now, I am starting to review the propers and readings for today's Mass of Saint Anne).
Not Spartacus: I recently visited the Sarasota chapel and it is quite beautiful!
I also visited the FSSP parish in Mableton, Georgia, after having visited once before in 1999. The things they have done with that former Baptist church in the intervening years are nothing short of breathtaking. From the inside you would never guess it was the same building!
God bless the FSSP priests and all their associated faithful.
I also wish we had the FSSP in my state, North Carolina. Still we do have diocesan TLMs, and those in interested can consult the list on the Wikkimissa website under the entry for North Carolina.
We are so fortunate at St. Josephs in Richmond, Va to have just had two Fraternity priests assigned to care for us.
That's two parishes and four FSSP parishes in our relatively small diocese. Given our over-all sorry state, having been lead by Bp. Walter Sullivan for many years (our new bishop, DiLorenzo being a good improvement), these men are a real leaven.
I, too, am a member of CSP. You will see how wonderful a confraternity it is by visiting any FSSP website. Your simple, sincere desire to pray for FSSP daily is prerequisite enough to enroll, for which a form exists in several languages. I should think the readers of this site would flock there, and join.
I second the motion for Los Angeles.
How True!!!!!!
The Confraternity of Saint Peter--lay associates of the FSSP--has been mentioned. Its general and US web sites:
http://www.fssp.org/en/confraternite.htm
http://www.confraternityofstpeter.org/
The English-speaking chaplain of the CSP is Fr. James Fryar FSSP, who is chaplain of Christ the King Catholic Church (Sarasota) which web casts the daily TLM at http://livemass.net/ as well as the monthly CSP evening of recollection (Mass, Benediction, conference) at 6:30 pm each 2nd Friday.
BEFORE THE OTHERS
Before the others
One man stood
Before the others
Spoke the truth
Before the others
For the good
Before the others
Yes forsooth,
Before the others
Gripped his staff
Before the others
Sailed the sea
Before the others
Net and gaff
Before the others
All for Thee.
I thank God every day for the wonderful priests we have at St. Stephen's. We are indeed blessed to have FSSP there. Thank you dear priests of St. Stephen's. You are in my daily rosary as is FSSP.
Anastacia
"We are so fortunate at St. Josephs in Richmond, Va to have just had two Fraternity priests assigned to care for us."
Great News!
Tom, could you please send an FSSP priest south to North Carolina, where there is no everyday TLM's and no traditional devotions offered on a regular basis?
We are grateful to the few priests in NC that offer the TLM, but there is very few of them and they need an FSSP priest help.
Any word on the FSSP parish in Dallas?
In reply to Anonymous at 26 July, 2011 16:15:
The TLM is offered at Sacred Heart Church in Dunn, North Carolina, in the Diocese of Raleigh on every Tuesday through Friday, on the first Saturday of the month, and on every Sunday. Maybe Monday is the priest's day off. So that's almost every day of every week. Sounds pretty good to me!
at anon 26 July, 2011 17:41
The FSSP Parish in Dallas has been formally erected as a parish a number of months back. Three Masses are now offered on Sundays (of course in addition to Masses on every other day of the week.) Renovations to the new Church building (a former protestant building) were completed some months back.
J Luke
Anon,
Thank you for the info.
Dunn is too far away for us to make it on an everyday basis.
We will go there occasionally on Holy Days of Obligation.
We pray for an everyday TLM, maybe the FSSP closer to Greensboro, to assist at every day.
Thank you though
Just a question for anyone out there.
If one has contacted his Ordinary requesting him to allow the FSSP into ones diocese and the Ordinary says no, how does one get the FSSP into ones diocese?
Martin.
I attended FSSP Fr. Buckley's Ignatian retreat last month in Denton; it was a truly inspirational and uplifting time. Not to mention meeting laity from around the country and Canada as well.
May God bless them all.
Thanks for the comments on the FSSP in the Dallas Diocese. By the way, are the three Sunday Masses well attended?
Steven
Steven, in the year and a half or so that Mater Dei (in Irving) has officially been a parish, it's grown tremendously, to the point that another Mass had to be added and another needs to be added (for a total of 4).
There are also 14-16 hours of Confession time available each week; well before and after every Mass (not simply 30 mins. on either side of Mass as listed). Frs. Longua and Wolfe don't mess around in the confessionals. Be prepared to be called out if necessary. But be not afraid.
Mater Dei has pulled a fair number of people away from the two SSPX parishes in the Dallas area. Some SSPX faithful aren't happy about this. Mater Dei has also pulled a fair number of University of Dallas students away from the miserable Novus Ordo on campus. Many of them remain on the level of thinking that the traditional Mass is a matter of "preference." Oh well. Step by step....
Tradster, Fr. Buckley did a Lenten retreat for us at our Mater Dei parish in Irving, TX. He was wonderful. Part of this wonder was that he didn't use a single note the whole time. Very impressive and inspiring.
The Confraternity of St. Peter is certainly the best way of supporting the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Our obligations are to say one decade of the rosary and a special prayer once a day for the priests and seminarians of the Fraternity and to have a Mass offered once a year. The blessings we receive in exchange for this are innumerable. We are remembered in Masses and prayers of Fraternity priests and also we receive indulgences which have been granted by the Church. In addition to all of this is a quarterly newsletter with wonderful articles from FSSP priests. There are numerous other opportunities of assisting the FSSP - join the Confraternity of St. Peter. www.confraternityofstpeter.com
Gratias said, "Hopefully they will come next to Los Angeles. FSSP already has a base in San Diego, but we drive 75 miles one way to mass in Ventura (1:30 pm every Sunday) for the privilege of the Traditional Mass."
I don't know if you drive 75 miles from north of Ventura or south of Ventura, (or even East)but if it's from the south there are several other TLM options: St. Therese in Alhambra offered by Fr. Bishop, a Claretian priest (1:00 p.m.), St. Mary's by the Sea in Huntington Beach offered by a Norbertine priest, usually Fr. Alphonsus (12:00 p.m.), and St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa offered by a Norbertine priest, usually Fr. Phillip (12:30 p.m.). The Norbertines of St. Michael's Abbey and Fr. Bishop deserve our gratitude and prayers for their strong commitment to the TLM in the greater Los Angeles area.
Thanks for the reports on Mater Dei in Irving, Texas. I wonder if Dallas could use another TLM parish?
Steven
OK, comments identifying, even if vaguely, priests on AudioSancto have been removed, upon request. Once again.
Yes indeed. My husband and I are so blessed to have St Stephens FSSP around the corner. Our life has changed for the better...our hearts have been touched so deeply. Thank you FSSP. Thank you God! We will continue to keep the Fraternity in our prayers.
From Sacramento, CA.
Gratias and Gary,
There is also a weekly TLM at St. Peter and Paul in Wilmington at 6:30 AM, except for the third Sunday when a High TLM is celebrated at 9:30 AM. I am so grateful to have found this church.
I would love for FSSP to come to Los Angeles!
OK until the FSSP comes to many of our diocese's the only option we have for going to the TLM on an every Sunday basis and recieving scheduled absolution right before Mass is the SSPX.
Cruise,
I have been a member of the Confraternity of St. Peter from its inception, attended an FSSP parish long before that, now attend a TLM celebrated by a diocesan priest trained by the FSSP, and am closely associated with the FSSP in other ways.
But I believe that in the long run the objective must be for orthodox young diocesan priests to celebrate the TLM regularly "in a parish near you", wherever you are. And, indeed, that one of the main contributions of the FSSP currently is the training of these young diocesan priests.
Henry,
Thank you and God bless you for your faithfulness.
I have asked several parish priests within 20-50 miles if they would consider offering the TLM.
They all,to a man, say they are too busy to learn the TLM.
There are two piests in this diocese who offer the Mass every Sunday but they are far far away and located in small out of the way parishes,
The SSPX is located near several large cities/towns and is much more easily accessible to Catholics and the SSPX priests offer Mass and the sacraments every Sunday and Friday and Monday.
This is very good, but we hope for a fully regularized situation either in the SSPX or the FSSP coming to this diocese, so we can assist at Mass, the Divine Office, Forty Hours Devotion and other pious devotions every day of the week.
In my area, the latin mass is offered quite regularly by The Institue of Christ the King.
Its wonderful because they are granted their own parishes - usually one can only find a visiting latin mass or one celebrated in a 'borrowed' Church.
Its amazing how big the parish has grown in just several years. very young families too.
Re: Anonymous @ 12:38
How could I forget Sts. Peter and Paul in Wilmington, CA - also a Norbertine parish! Pray for my son who is a novice at the Norbertine St. Michael's Abbey and very interested in the TLM.
CVM PETRO et SVB PETRO!
LAVS DEO!
Allan Lopes dos Santos (https://www.facebook.com/allanlopesdossantos).
I was recently compelled to go to a Mass at St. Michael's Abbey in Trabuco Canyon. Latin Novus Ordo. Dreadful.
Gary: bless your son the novice. Norbertine priests have helped us out with the Easter Triduum and they are fantastic. We have attended once their mass at Mary-by-the-Sea in Huntington Beach (Orange County, CA) and it was beautiful. I particularly liked that the attendees join in the Gregorian Chant. I think God must have been pleased too. I guess that the cause of the Church is slowly making some progress even in ultra-liberal California. It is up to us to keep moving forward, for we are the antidote to the dissolution that surrounds us.
Tom McKenna-One of those priests you have been assigned to at St. Joseph's is my spiritual director. Can you please send him back?
I don't know of other priests in the Dallas Diocese that offer the Old Mass . . . my impressions of the rest of the diocese have been that it is not all too friendly to tradition (although I would love to be corrected.)
I do know, however, that in Forth Worth (in addition to the Masses offered by the Mater Dei priests) that the Old Mass is offered at the College of St. Thomas More. The chaplain there offers the Mass a couple of times throughout the week; and I was informed that a Benedictine priest will be joining the faculty and will also be offering the Old Mass.
J. Luke
I want to give a big thanks to FSSP in Florida! Thank you Fr. Fryar and all the awesome FSSP priests here in Florida who are slowly but surely reconverting what is basically missionary territory after the series of horrendous bishops over the last 25 years.
Recently the FSSP had a Eucharistic procession and just seeing it brought tears to my eyes. How beautiful is our Church and how terrible that there is not one for every feast day at EVERY Catholic Church.
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